Posted on 07/17/2003 7:01:48 AM PDT by SLB
The U.S. Army is seeking permission from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to deploy its first brigade of General Dynamics Corp.'s Stryker wheeled armored vehicles to Iraq by November, according to a defense official.
Rumsfeld may approve the Stryker deployment as early as this weekend as one of the options for replacing long-serving units in Iraq, including the 3rd Infantry Division, which arrived in the region late last year.
Deployment of a 293-vehicle Stryker Brigade -- the Army's newest weapon system -- would be the highest-profile action in any rotation order signed by Rumsfeld, who is under pressure to return the division to the U.S. amid concerns that U.S. troops may be stretched too thin around the world.
Twenty-six of the Army's 33 active duty combat brigades are deployed worldwide or training with Strykers as part of the service's effort to transform into a swifter, more lethal force.
Sixteen of the 33 brigades are in Iraq, two are in Afghanistan, and another, in Kosovo, is returning soon to Germany to be replaced by a National Guard unit. Two brigades are in Korea, and two are in Hawaii on strategic alert for a Korean contingency, said a defense official who briefed reporters on the condition he not be identified.
Any deployment of U.S. troops on a peacekeeping mission to Liberia would likely involve either an Army or Marine Corps brigade-sized unit, the official said.
Enhanced Separate Brigade
The official said Rumsfeld is being asked to authorize first- time activation for Iraq duty early next year one or two ``enhanced separate brigades'' of the National Guard that train constantly with regular Army units.
The units will likely be activated for up to 13 months, which includes up to nine-month stints in Iraq, plus training and leave before they are de-mobilized.
The active Army has about 362,680 of its 480,000 troops deployed today in about 120 countries, along with 136,000 reservists of a 555,000 pool.
The Stryker is an eight-wheel armored vehicle that can be configured in 10 versions, each performing a specialized combat mission including carrying troops.
The Stryker unit likely headed to Iraq is the 3rd Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division, at Fort Lewis, Washington. Two other brigades are in training.
The brigade consists of about 1,500 vehicles including Stykers, and support vehicles, and about 1,000 combat troops among its 3,614 troop total, which includes three infantry battalions.
They milked that one for a long time.
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